Pitcairn Co. Sells 418 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Pitcairn Co. lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,148 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 418 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 146,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,500,000 after acquiring an additional 27,830 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 34,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,721,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $725,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 4,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $245.30 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $251.75 and its 200 day moving average is $244.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $69.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.00 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.